Beyond the Light Horizon

When I reviewed Beyond the Reach of Earth, the second volume in Ken MacLeod’s Lightspeed Trilogy, I found myself asking why there will be a book three. Clearly there were unanswered questions at the end of that book, but exactly which ones MacLeod would pick up and run with was another matter entirely. As it turned out, Beyond the Light Horizon is something else entirely.

Obviously the themes raised in the first two books still exist. The three main political power blocks: the Union, the Alliance and the Co-Ord, are still competing ferociously for access to territory, resources and technology. That, MacLeod suggests, will be a constant feature of the world as long as those power blocks exist. Interestingly, he also adds the African Union to the mix. They are not on the same level as the other three, but with careful politicking they could get there.

We also have the mystery of the Fermi to be resolved. The new book does explain who they are and how they came to be. But it is their motivation, hinted at in book 2, that is most important.

There is also the ongoing tension between the entrepreneurial spirit of John Grant, and the fact that he lives in a very socialist society. The way in which the two co-exist will doubtless be the subject of academic papers in the future.

However, the main thrust of Beyond the Light Horizon is the issue of colonialism. Thanks to the invention of the FTL drive, human beings have been able to reach out into the galaxy and find new worlds to exploit. We have already seen questions about the colony on Apis, and those will multiply. There is also the question as to what happens when mankind, inevitably, encounters other advanced, sentient species. (This being MacLeod, who loves to play with the silly end of popular conceptions of aliens, one such race are dinosaurs.)

There are no neat and simple answers at the end of this series. MacLeod makes it clear that humans will always be on the look out for an opportunity to enrich themselves. Even older and presumably wiser intelligent species may be tempted. And while many individuals might want to do the right thing, there will always be powerful factions that want to maintain their power by any means possible. Some readers may be put off by what seems like a non-ending, but I’m pretty sure that what MacLeod wants us to do is go away and think about the issues he has presented, not to ask him for a pre-packed solution.

Title: Beyond The Light Horizon
By: Ken MacLeod
Publisher: Orbit
Purchase links:
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